The Class of 2018: The Stats of Success

The Authors
Mady Hand '18, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Published online
June 28, 2018 5:30pm

Last updated
June 28, 2018 5:24pm

There are a lot of ways to describe the class of 2018. Things such as “special snowflakes,” a term coined by one of our loving Reverends, or “the best graduating class yet,” come to mind as two notable descriptors. There are so many different approaches to take, but I want to explain our grade to you via numbers. They might not quite do justice to our level of greatness, but I do think they give a glimpse into just how unique of a group we are.

At least 65,043 kids attended boarding school in the United States this past year.

There are about 18 million kids in high school across the United States. We are part of the 0.3% of kids who choose to live away from their parents. This basic statistic should cast aside any doubts concerning our superiority. We’re 1 in 277.8.

69 members of our class began as freshman.

We began with 88 freshmen, and then added 31 new sophomores. We only barely slowed down for junior year, adding another 17 to our numbers. Senior year, we had the privilege of adding one, Tan, to round out our class as we know it today.

We can boast classmates from 17 states, the District, and 10 different countries.

Not only are we a nationally diverse group, we are also international. So international.

We’ve had 182 days of the new and improved Stewart.

We got to see old Stewart through its final days (remember when we broke the floor? Or when the school store sold the cookies out of the rotating warmer?), we spent too much money after sports when “Stewart” was temporarily located in the athletic classrooms, and finally, we got to live out new Stewart in the grill and all its glory.

We buy an average of 8 milkshakes each study hall, and with the multitude of study halls we have, there is no way we have purchased any less than 1,000 milkshakes. It’s just not possible.

We beat Woodberry by 14 points.

But I mean, we couldn’t lose. We’re too good to lose to a safety school.

We’ve had 31 5:45-sign-ins this year.

In ten years, we know that some of us will still be wondering what we are missing on Saturday, convinced there is some commitment involving an iPad that we are forgetting about.

23 members of our class are commits.That is 20% of our grade. Talk about an impressive amount of hand eye coordination.

100% of our class donated 1,265.75 dollars to roll call

Generous is the term that should come to mind. We want to make sure the classes that come after us get everything we had and more. EHS wouldn’t be the same without the resources and opportunities provided by others’ generosity.

Finally, 116 diplomas, and one honorary diploma, will be handed out this Saturday.

117 of us will drive down the front drive for the final time this June 2, closing out our high school career. I can promise you that in the years to come, each one of us will remember EHS as a place that shaped us, that set us on our path. Each one of us will remember the teachers, the late nights endured, and the amazing feelings of success. Each one of us will remember our fellow 2018 graduates, and how much of an impact we’ve made on the lives of one another. As we grow older, and travel further away from Episcopal, each one of us will still smile when we remember to beat Woodberry. And each one of us will know, deep down, that no one else could be us.

While numbers give a glimpse of who we are, it takes a lot more to truly know us. It takes donuts before break, peanut butter bars, and snacks from the grille. It takes paper sign-ins, study halls with our phones in jewelry cases, and shushing in the library. It takes losing to, tying, and beating Woodberry. It takes health class, U.S. history and Tech 101. It takes Mr. Jaeger telling us about Karen, Mr. Stillwell teaching us to be first class citizens, and Mr. Hershey announcing his departure. It takes a philosophy class with Ms. Fielder, a conversation with Mark Mills, and a visit to Brenda and all the Health Center nurses. It takes HQ games in the Writing Center, arguing about a prose piece in Daemon, and Chronicle layout. Most importantly though, it takes each member of the class of 2018. We are what makes our class special, and it wouldn’t be the same without each one of us interacting as a whole.

And so, for one final time: God bless the High School, and God bless the Class of 2018. It’s been one hell of a ride.